Challenge courses are structures that allow a person, or a team to challenge themselves by participating in various events such as walking at elevated heights or climbing. These courses are also used to train military personnel. These courses are also used at recreational parks or other such centers that have go-carts and miniature gulf. It is common for people to wait in line to participate in the challenge course.
Therefore increasing the speed of the flow of participants is an important feature of the challenge courses as well as increasing safety. The participants are usually performing some act at an elevated level between support structures. A harness cable secures the participant to a safety hook or trolley. The safety hook or trolley usually slides along cables or inside a track, substantially oriented horizontally as the participant walks on an “element” or “obstacle” below, whereby the participant is secured to a trolley. Therefore it is also an important feature to retain the harness cable to the trolley as the trolley moves along the main track and return track.
One problem with challenge courses involve the traffic flow of individuals using the course along the track. The cause of many of the flow problems are caused by factors such as many users near each other along the same track of the challenge course. The user may be moving along the track until the user encounters an intersection, which normally allows the user to then go left, right, straight ahead, or backwards.
The return track of a ropes course track may be supported from the side of a steel ropes course structure and presents a path or track that starts from a column, runs out around some obstacle and then returns to the same column from which it started. The return track can be supported from the overhead, the platform, another supporting member from another level, or any combination of the three.
The return track presents the opportunity to offer more elements that hang from the side of a steel structure, where normal elements that must be supported at each end, are not possible.
Ropes courses of a modular design like many designs have empty connection points where previously they could only be blocked off. With a return track these empty connection points can be put to good use.
The present invention may only need to connect to one column. If there is one available connection point, a return track can be installed. This will allow customers to add elements where they couldn't before.
The return track can leave from one empty connection point to another on the same column, or leave and return to the same connection point. This configuration can also offer another way for participants to pass each other.
There exists a need for a return tracks and any associated element to be used as respite areas where participants can get out of the main traffic of the ropes course for a short period of time.
There exists a need offer additional ways for participants to pass each other.
There also exists a need to for a return track that can offer the feeling of danger by allowing the participant to distance themselves from the main structure of the ropes course.
Multiple embodiments of the system are disclosed herein. It will be understood that other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.